Investing.com - The dollar was steady against the euro and the yen on Monday after turning broadly lower on Friday in the wake of a disappointing U.S. employment report for July.
EUR/USD was little changed at 1.3427, holding above the eight month trough of 1.3366 reached last Wednesday.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3366 and resistance at the 1.3450 level.
Official data on Friday showed that that U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in July, below forecasts for jobs growth of 233,000. The previous month’s figure was revised up to a gain of 298,000 from a previously reported increase of 288,000.
Although it was the sixth successive month that the U.S. economy added more than 200,000 jobs, the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up to 6.2% from 6.1% in June. In addition, wage growth was flat, pointing to underlying slack in the economy.
The data prompted investors to trim back expectations on the timing of a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve, sending the dollar lower.
The euro’s gains were held in check ahead of a policy meeting by the European Central Bank later in the week.
Data late last week showed that the annual rate of inflation in the euro area slowed to 0.4% last month from 0.5% in June, adding to pressure on the bank to implement measures to avert the risk of deflation in the region.
The dollar edged higher against the yen, with USD/JPY inching up 0.05% to 102.65, off the almost four month highs of 103.07 set last Wednesday.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was flat at 81.40, after reaching 10-month highs of 81.66 on Thursday.